Nov 27 letters to the editor

As enthusiastic new residents of Oakland, we are appalled and frightened by the level of violence in our city. A random bullet through a neighbors' wall on a holiday weekend illustrates that even staying locked inside our home is no guarantee of safety.

Burglaries, shootings and torched vehicles are regular occurrences that do not seem to result in much more than a brief mention by the media, and no response at all from city leaders.

We do not see our outrage and a sense of urgency reflected by the mayor or our understaffed police department.

We want more police in our neighborhood, so our young daughter feels safe here. We also want a demonstration of real commitment and follow through to crime-reduction strategies that include offenders in the process, such as those exemplified by David Kennedy at the Center for Crime Prevention and Control.

What are our leaders doing to remedy the out-of-control crime and embarrassingly low police presence in this beautiful city? Community safety should be the only item on Oakland's agenda.

Lulu Garrett Cook

Oakland

Closing San Lorenzo Orchard Supply wrong

So, corporate plans to close Orchard Supply in San Lorenzo, and Mark Bailey, president and CEO, can't give a viable explanation for doing so.

Advertisement

Has Bailey been to this store? I was there on a recent Friday and the parking lot was full and the store was busy.

To do away with San Lorenzo's only store of this type is a shame. This store serves not only thousands of residents, but many local businesses as well.

I hear now the plans are for a strip mall. Just what the area needs, another cigarette shop and a 99 cent store. Have these people driven down Hesperian and seen all the empty store fronts? Brilliant.

Ray Green

Hayward

Should reinstate Bay Area rivalry

The recent firing of Cal's football coach might provide an opportunity to reinstate a Bay Area rivalry that existed between 1899 and 1996 through 35 games.

Cal used to play San Jose State just about every year in the latter stage of the series, providing a chance for East Bay residents to see San Jose State play a quality opponent in a geographically convenient venue.

It was also close enough that regular attendees of San Jose State home games could also make the journey to Cal's Memorial Stadium.

I don't know for sure why the series was terminated, but I believe that given the current success of the San Jose State football program and its pending bowl game invitation, a Cal-SJS matchup would be welcome by both schools.

John Mercurio

Concord

Don't need to be treated to nudity

The degradation of human beings is about to take place in San Francisco.

Cover up, people. No one wants to see a naked butt in front of them at the supermarket -- or anywhere else for that matter.

Lordy, give me a break.

Why degrade the human race any further than it already is?

I don't think we really need to see all these nude bodies parading around. We all have them, but let's keep them to ourselves.

Besides, we don't want to put the clothing industry out of business. Our economy is bad enough.

Dorothy Miller

San Leandro

Impeachment of Obama must begin

Gen. David Petraeus, in his testimony before Congress on Nov. 16 about what transpired at the American Consulate in Benghazi said what we all knew, that it was an attack by al-Qaida and its affiliates and not some spontaneous street demonstration in response to an Internet video which no one saw.

It is clear the Obama administration deliberately chose to lie to the American people to win re-election.

The decision to spread this lie clearly came from Obama himself and I pray that Congress will continue to investigate this and begin impeachment proceedings against Obama.

For all the Code Pink people out there, here is a new tag line for you: "Americans died, Obama lied."